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Contractors found a wallet belonging to Huber Heights Mayor Tom McMasters at a construction site at the Carriage Trails development this week, but the mayor says he doesn't know how it got there.
A site boss with D&M Excavating told the Huber Heights Police Department it “looked as if someone found it and placed it on the employee’s trunk,” according to an incident report. The item is described as “a black pouch style money clip.”
McMasters, an independent congressional candidate, said he did not know how his property made it to the site, where it was found Monday evening.
“No, I haven’t been out there,” McMasters said. “I don’t know how it got out there.”
“There’s a million ways it could have happened,” the mayor said.
“It’s my wallet, but it’s not what I keep my money and credit cards in,” he said. “It’s what I keep my city business cards in.”
In a Tuesday email obtained by the Dayton Daily News, City Manager Rob Schommer informed McMasters of the missing wallet, telling him he could pick it up at the city building. Schommer’s email describes the item as having been “found inside one of their pieces of equipment at Carriage Trails last night.”
In one word, McMasters replied to Schommer, “Interesting.”
The next day, Schommer emailed the remainder of council to inform them the city is “following the standard process for found property via an incident report” through the police department.
“Although the wallet has been returned, not being sure what may have been in it or the conditions in which it was found is information that should be documented for safeguarding the situation through our standard process,” Schommer wrote.
“Since there was a city vendor and additional employees involved in the exchange, I wanted to make sure everyone had the initial information about this; that way you are aware of actions being conducted,” Schommer wrote.
City Council will receive an “investigation update” on the “mayor’s found wallet” at Tuesday’s work session.
Additionally, and among a host of other controversies since taking office in January 2014, McMasters has been censured by City Council twice; city staff filed a complaint against McMasters; he attached, without authorization, a memo to Schommer's contract stating his disapproval; and he has refused to sign legislation that was passed by council.
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